Meet Kätlin & Torsten Malm | Tattoo Artists

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kätlin & Torsten Malm and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kätlin & Torsten, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
Torsten Malm: I really can’t remember, there wasn’t any big thought process behind starting our own business, it all just happened really naturally and without too much thinking. It was the logical step in our career path since both I and Kätlin found tattooing the right career path for us and we wanted to pursue it.

Kätlin Malm:
My first thought why I even wanted to start my own business, was that I can manage my own time and have that freedom. Also, I had the opportunity to create something close to my heart and I took that opportunity. When working for someone else, you still have to behave in a certain way, but if you work for yourself, you can be exactly who you are.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
We’re a married couple who own a private tattoo studio called Studio Malm in Tallinn, Estonia and both of us specialize in realistic tattoos. Setting up our own tattoo studio was a natural progression. For us, new challenges and opportunities are always exciting and we welcome them. We found something we believed in, grabbed the bull by the horns and here we are.
As with anything, there have been good times and not so good, but instead of letting our heads drop, we take each moment as an experience and always face the future with a positive attitude and wiser than before.
With each tattoo, we dedicate ourselves completely to the project, but in the process, we don’t want to take a back seat to ourselves, so we maintain a good work-life balance. We love to work and when we started tattooing we both worked very long hours, which we loved. But at some point, we realized that we needed time to be, to rest, to draw, to design, and to do our own thing. That’s why now, we never book our clients more than a few months in advance and take a day off every week to relax and gather our thoughts.

We’re passionate about what we do, and perhaps that’s what sets us apart from many. We never do a ,,line job” like in the factories, we evaluate each client and project on a personal basis because we want each client to be 100% satisfied with our art.
Passion is what has brought us this far. Our goal has never been to get big fame and success but to do what makes us happy. Success is only a bonus and good work always pays off.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Estonia is very small and you could tour the whole country in a week. Speaking of Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, where our studio is located, you should definitely take a walk in the Old Town and find a cozy café where you can enjoy good Estonian food.
Be sure to explore Telliskivi Creative City and Põhjala Factory areas. These are former manufacturing zones that are now known as hipster hotspots. There is a lot of art in these areas (both on the streets and in the galleries) and countless unique shops and eateries with a strong emphasis on local produce and raw materials.
There are plenty of galleries and museums in Tallinn, and everyone will find something to do. There are also plenty of places to eat, so no one will go hungry. Our food culture is really versatile, you can find traditional Estonian food in the Old Town, but almost every food category is represented somewhere in the city.
As Estonia is small, it is easy to make 1 or 2 day trips out of Tallinn. In just a few hours, you can travel to a completely different corner of Estonia and discover its culture and nature.
To sum it up, Estonia is a wonderful place to live, the culture and nature here is something you won’t find anywhere else in the world, and because Estonia is small enough you can explore interesting places all over the country in a week.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
To family and friends who have been our big supporters and always believed in us. To all the tattoo artists that we’ve met throughout the years and have had the pleasure to work with.
To all the clients who have trusted us.

Just a big thank you to every person that has been a part of our journey!

Website: https://studiomalm.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katlinmalm_tattoo/ & https://www.instagram.com/torstenmalm_tattoo/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/studio.malm/

Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@studio_malm?lang=en https://www.tiktok.com/@katlin_malm_tattoo https://www.tiktok.com/@torstenmalm_tattoo?lang=en